One thing I really enjoyed from the first issue of Mirror’s Edge: Exordium was how it did not assume that the reader knew a flying flip about the world of Mirror’s Edge or its characters. The second issue has built upon this lack of assumption and continues to draw in the reader with intrigue and a desire to know more about both Faith and the City of Glass. With Issue #2, the plot surrounding Faith heats up, but for whatever reason, the art has fallen rather flat.
Faith’s choices are spiraling around her as she’s letting her pride get in her own way, but a least she knows how to carry that chip on her shoulder without being a bitch about it. She’s strong, she’s opinionated, but she gets things done without making a scene in front of the people she’s furious with. Does she talk to them maturely? Oh hell no, which creates the drama. But at least she’s not throwing her toys around the room, claiming to be a victim, or blaming others for her problems.
It’s hard to really analyze or dissect the storyline without delving into spoiler territory, so I won’t even try. Just know that the tale really winds up, Faith and Noah both are unraveling a bit due to their choices, and we learn just how awful a person Dogen really is. From the very last panel, I have a theory of what he’s really doing to Faith, but I’m keeping it to myself for now.
The art, however, is a big disappointment. None of the characters appear to be three-dimensional, so they all come across as very flat in a 1970s/1980s comic book style. Even the colors are drab, so nothing pops off the page and strikes me as stunning. On several panels, Faith’s face takes on a different shape, even on the same page. The best example of Faith is on page 4, and the rest of the pages look like someone else handed in the pencils for the heroine. The next and last time her face remains consistent and like the Faith we’re used to seeing is page 15. When comparing the artists between the issues, the names are different, which could 100% explain why.
I like my comic books to have amazing art; without the art, I might as well just have a short story or a novel. I sincerely hope we go back to the Mattias Haggstrom/Robert Sammelin duo that we had in the first issue, because the art and colors exhibited there are light years ahead of what we have in Issue #2.
Art aside (I’ll shove it aside for now), Mirror’s Edge: Exordium continues on a dark, deep path that they set out from the first issue. I am still excited to see where this comic series goes, not to mention, what decisions Faith decides to make that lands her in the position she is in at the start of Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst.
Mirror’s Edge: Exordium #2 is out today, October 14, 2015.
Digital review copy received via publisher.
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